Page 123 of Untamed

"And?" I prod him. I roll my shoulders in an attempt to shake the fury from my limbs.

"Your uncle... he was upset when he heard about her."

"Why?" I ask.

Jean shakes his head. "I don't know, Alpha. But... he asked my sister, who worked for him at his office, to shred some documents."

"And did she?" I ask silkily. My alpha-wolf eyes him with pure menace.

Jean shakes his head again, his hands trembling. "She didn't. She never got the chance before your mate was taken. We knew you would come for her. Everyone went home that day. To prepare for war or hide, depending."

"Where are these documents now?"

His eyes stray to a red filing cabinet sitting in the yard, waiting to be taken inside. As if its color is a taunt from my dead uncle, it’s bright red.Look in here. We took the whole thing, just ripped it from my uncle's offices, and threw it in the back of one of our pickups.

"Where is your sister?"

A small, diminutive female steps forward, her hands clasped in front of her, fingertips white. She reeks of fear, too. No lies, not that I can detect, but I won't just trust that.

"Come with me," I order her. "Take your mate inside, Jean." I dismiss him. As soon as I do, RustClaw bursts into action, Rhet at the forefront, weeding through wolves and sorting them into different groups. It's just like the scene at the Mauja territory, but in reverse, with wolves being shoved into buildings instead of yanked from them. Everyone is exhausted, but RustClaw steps up to their tasks, finding strength in the trust they have for their leaders.

I open the red filing cabinet right then and there with the petite female shaking next to me. "Which file?"

She finds it. It's on the top, ready to be shredded forever, I guess. I open the innocuous-looking manila-colored file and start reading. It's only three pieces of paper. The first is a letter from my mother, telling my uncle that she knows people from BlueSnout who can help them. It's written in vague words, nothing incriminating, but my hand is shaking anyway when I set it aside. My mother was communicating with her brother. Not a crime. Not evidence in itself, but what did she need help with? From the BlueSnout, no less?

The next piece of paper is a note written on yellowed lined paper. It reads, 'it's done,' and is signed TR in a heavy, masculine hand. On the bottom is an address for one of the northern territory post office boxes. Close to where Jax said he found my mate's Mama. My stomach churns sickeningly as I flip to the next piece of paper.

It flutters in my hand when a gust of wind blows suddenly. I don't lose it; my fingers are too tight. It's a photo of a young female, tied with rope and gagged. She's asleep, but I can tell there are tear tracks running down her face, even with the grainy quality.

It's a picture of Willa's mother.

The photo crinkles in my fist. Oh, goddess. Oh shit. Nearly frantic, I look at the packhouse as if I can peer through the walls and see my mate to reassure myself that she's still here. My uncle knew about Anya. If he knew about her being kidnapped, then... did my Ma do it? Was it not my Pa? And if it was Ma, what other reason could there be except that Willa's father told Anya the truth? My Pa was Anya's truemate, and he arranged for everything shitty thing that happened to her. Or my Ma did. But who helped them and why? What did the BlueSnout get out of this, if anything? Goddess.

"Do you recognize her?" I ask the shaking female. Her eyes pop wide when she sees the photo. I know before she speaks, she's never seen either Anya or this photo.

She shakes her head, frantic. "I didn't have time to look at the file, Alpha. Never seen her before, I swear."

"Enough of this," The wizened old male snaps as he snatches the papers out of my hands. Elias Goers glares at me with rheumy eyes. "Shit's been going on too long, youngling. You and that pretty, golden, witchy female are going to set things right, yea? Need tofocus." He taps my forehead with his finger.

"Elias," my voice trembles with violence. The Mauja female backs away, the scent of urine staining the air.

"Don't take that tone with me, youngling. You ain't so big yet that I can't whip ya."

It's so ridiculous that my anger fades slightly. "Elias," I say, calmer. "You've seen this?" I hand him the photo. Anya is his kin, supposedly. I want to see how calm Elias thinks I should be when he sees the proof of what happened to her.

He traces her face with a finger. His lower lip trembles. Tears fill his eyes, but they don't fall. He grits his teeth and meets my eyes.

"You find that pup, Orion Ferax. You hunt him down and bring him here, unharmed, well, relatively unharmed," he mumbles.

Goddess, save me from old, senile wolves. I growl in frustration. "My mate needs-"

Elias snorts, effectively interrupting me, the photo of Anya clutched to his chest, "that female ain't letting you go so easy, youngling. Not a worry about it. You can't shake her from ya with a gallon of bear grease, and she can't beat you away with a two-by-four."

Was that supposed to make sense? Who is going to 'shake her from me?' "The BlueSnout-"

"No, youngling," Elias says. He taps the back of the photo then hands it back to me as if he can't stand to look at it anymore. "You need to hear the truth, yea? And that little shit knows his shit. Why do you think he killed his uncle? Why'd ya think he's hunting your mate? Lots of rumors from FeraxMaw. Some may be true. Some may not. But you're an alpha, soon of three packs, yea? Find Orion."

A hand clamps onto my shoulder. The scarred face of Devel Grim looks at me. His jaw is clenched, the muscles ticking, making the thin white lines marking his face jump. "It's not a bad idea, In. Go to this war armed with all you can. We've been trying to track down Orion, but the kid's wily, for sure. You with us? We need your help to traverse this territory. The BlueSnout will wait."

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